NCOIC Rapid Response Capability Process

The NCOIC Rapid Response Capability (NRRC™) is an open process designed to facilitate cross-domain interoperability and secure information sharing among a disparate group of users from multiple computing domains. Developed and tested by an NCOIC team of government and industry experts, the NRRC process details how to create and manage a federated cloud wrapped with a security environment in which all parties can share data, while retaining control of their sensitive and/or proprietary information.

The NRRC process promotes transparent, cooperative working relationships and enables collaboration with non-traditional partners from different companies, industries, agencies, governments and/or nations. It offers many other operational benefits, including:

Rapid implementation – development of a federated cloud system can be measured in hours instead of months

High reliability – secure environment provides the means to validate user identities and manage the exchange of information, giving maximum accessibility while protecting ownership and control over the release of data

Flexible – multiple-cloud infrastructure offers the ability to grow and change the environment as needed; it can also be combined with traditional IT environments; and applications and participants can be added as appropriate to boost overall effectiveness of the architecture and team

Vendor Neutral – NRRC is not product specific; regional cloud service providers, data repositories and application providers can be used

Lower IT costs by 10-80% – cloud infrastructure is extremely cost effective and there is no residual expense when the computing environment is shut down

The NRRC process enables a new way of doing business. It was first developed by NCOIC for the U.S. National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency. The NGA Demonstration showed how the NRRC methodology can improve operational capability and effectiveness, while reducing cost, time and risk. Governance rules were put in place so that the virtual collaboration took place within government, political, and cultural boundaries. The cloud environment featured a security wrapper to ensure communication only among trusted sources and proprietary information was protected. The information exchanged supported all levels of effort, from senior decision-makers to first responders.

The NRRC process is applicable to a wide range of operational needs, including emergency response, disaster recovery, supply chain management and other situations where multiple, independent users and institutions must come together quickly to address a complex problem.

The NCOIC Rapid Response Capability is…

An architecture and implementation process plan

A process for quickly standing up an infrastructure

An enabler for Information users and providers to rapidly integrate information systems

A methodology for securing, sharing and managing information exchange

NCOIC is able to use its online interoperability demonstration and evaluation environment to test the NRRC process for a contracting organization. The NCOIC Rapid Response Incubator (RRI™) can support critical event preparedness, planning and simulation, offering the unique ability to test technical interoperability concepts and solutions in a real-world environment. The RRI is a persistent, multi-cloud environment with secure access controls for virtual communities of interest. It is a vendor-neutral testbed that allows capabilities to be created, demonstrated and tested in an open manner.

Using the interoperability incubator to demonstrate the NRRC can expand the integration capability of participants, establish the functionality of their products/solutions, enhance their individual capabilities and improve their ability to support the overall goal.

The NRRC, a unique interoperable solution not found in industry or government, is available to NCOIC members. For more information on the NCOIC Rapid Response Capability process, contact Ed Barger, NCOIC Technical Director, at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..